JOHN LENNON CALLED IT "CRAP" AND "LOUSY" IN VARIOUS INTERVIEWS AND THE REVIEWS WERE EXTREMELY MIXED, AT BEST.
THE JOKES AND ASIDES OF THE EXTREMELY WITTY BEATLES WERE THERE, JUST AS IN THE BEATLES' FIRST FILM, BUT THEY SOMEHOW FELL FLAT THIS TIME.
THE SCENERY, THE COLOR, AND THE VISUALS WERE BEAUTIFUL TO LOOK AT.
AND THE MUSIC WAS UNEQUIVOCALLY GREAT- LIKE ALWAYS- AS WERE THE BEATLES' "VIDEOS" (ALTHOUGH THEY WEREN'T CALLED THAT THEN).
IT WAS EARLY 1965, AND THE BEATLES' WERE STILL THE BIGGEST ACT EVER TO HIT SHOW BUSINESS, SO IT WAS OBVIOUS- THEY NEEDED AND WANTED TO DO A FOLLOW-UP FILM TO THEIR HUGELY SUCCESSFUL FIRST FILM "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT".
SINCE RINGO THOUGHT UP THE TITLE TO THE FIRST FILM, HE WAS COUNTED ON TO THINK UP A CLEVER TITLE TO THIS ONE, AND HE DID: "EIGHT ARMS TO HOLD YOU".
ALMOST AN OMEN OF THE "SOMETHING MISSING" IN THE FILM, THERE WAS AN UNSPOKEN AGREEMENT THAT A NEW (BETTER) TITLE WAS NEEDED.
RICHARD LESTER WAS TO BE THE DIRECTOR AND WALTER SHENSON PRODUCED, BOTH HOLD-OVERS FROM THE PREVIOUS FILM.
AND THE FILM HAD, NOT ONLY A MUCH LARGER BUDGET, BUT WAS THIS TIME TO BE IN FULL-BLOWN LIVING COLOR.
EXOTIC LOCATIONS OF AUSTRIA AND THE BAHAMAS (ALONG WITH ENGLAND) WERE CHOSEN TOO.
THE FILM HAD AN INANE PLOT, FEATURING RINGO AS THE MAIN FOCUS, OF THE BAD GUYS (A WEIRD CULT) TRYING TO STEAL BACK A SACRED RING WHICH WAS SOMEHOW STUCK ON RINGO'S FINGER.
OKAY, SO IT WASN'T EXACTLY WRITTEN BY GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, BUT IT WAS THE BEATLES!
SO WHAT WENT WRONG?
FIRST OFF, BY THIS TIME, ACCORDING TO LENNON, THE BOYS WERE "HAVING MARIJUANA FOR BREAKFAST". ALL FOUR, AFTER DISCOVERING MARIJUANA WITH FRIEND BOB DYLAN THE PREVIOUS SUMMER, WERE HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE WITH THIS NEW DISCOVERY. THE FAB FOUR WOULD REGULARLY SMOKE UP DURUING LUNCH BREAKS ON THE FILM AND DIRECTOR LESTER KNEW THAT IF HE DIDN'T GET THE BOY'S SCENES FILMED IN THE MORNING, THE DAY WOULD BE WASTED. ALL THEY EVER DID IN THE AFTERNOONS WAS GIGGLE HYSTERICALLY, FOUL UP SCENES AND FORGET THEIR LINES. OF COURSE, THIS KIND OF UNPROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR WOULDN'T BE TOLERATED ON ANY OTHER MOVIE SET, BUT HEY- THEY WERE THE BEATLES! ACCORDING TO BOTH JOHN AND GEORGE, THE BOY'S BEST SCENES ENDED UP ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR- THESE BEING SCENES OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS FOURSOME ROLLING AROUND GIGGLING AND LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY.
THE FILM FEATURED SOME TALENTED BRITISH PERFORMERS- LEO MCKERN, ROY KINNEAR, VICTOR SPINETTI, AND THE BEAUTIFUL ELEANOR BRON. BUT ACCORDING TO LENNON, THE BEATLES FELT LIKE "EXTRAS IN THEIR OWN FILM". SOMEHOW, THE MIX OF THESE EXCELLENT ACTORS CO-MINGLING WITH THE BEATLES IN THE JAMES BOND-LIKE SPY ROMP, JUST NEVER REALLY CLICKED.
ALTHOUGH THE FILMING AND THE FILM ITSELF WERE BOTH DISAPPOINTING, THE MOVIE DID, QUITE LITERALLY, CHANGE SOMEONE'S ENTIRE LIFE. GEORGE HARRISON WAS HANGING AROUND ONE DAY DURING A SCENE WHERE THE BEATLES GO INTO AN INDIAN RESTAURANT FOR A MEAL. GEORGE EVIDENTALLY BECAME FASCINATED AS HE LISTENED TO THE SCENE'S INDIAN BAND PLAY, AND WAS CURIOUS ABOUT THE STRANGE INSTRUMENT THEY PLAYED: A SITAR. GEORGE STARTED FOOLING AROUND ON THE BIZARRE INTRUMENT, AND THESE FEW MOMENTS WERE THE CATALYST TO GEORGE'S LIFELONG LOVE OF ALL THINGS INDIAN, AS WELL AS HIS CHANGING OVER TO THE BELIEFS OF HINDISM AND KRISNA CONCIOUSNESS.
ANOTHER INTERESTING FACET (AND ONE OF THE BEST SCENES IN THE MOVIE) SHOWS THE BOY'S SKIING ON A SNOWY MOUNTAIN. IT WAS THE FIRST TIME ANY OF THEM HAD BEEN ON SKIS; RINGO FELL IN LOVE WITH IT, BUT GEORGE SAID HE HAD SKIED "FOR THE FIRST AND LAST TIME".
OH YES, BEFORE RELEASE THE MOVIE STILL NEEDED A BETTER TITLE. THE GENIUS OF JOHN LENNON DID NOT DISAPPOINT, AND ONE DAY JOHN REPORTED IN WITH A NEW SONG HE HAD WRITTEN CALLED "HELP!" (PAUL DID, AS USUAL, CONTRIBUTE A BIT TO THE SONG, BUT IT WAS UNEQUIVOCALLY A "JOHN SONG".) ALTHOUGH CONSIDERED A TYPICAL TEEN "POP" SONG AT THE TIME, ACCORDING TO LENNON, IT WAS "A REAL CRY FOR HELP". LENNON, EVEN IN THESE EARLY DAYS OF BEATLEMANIA, WAS HAVING A HARD TIME COPING WITH BEING A MEMBER OF THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR BAND AND WAS ACTUALLY FAIRLY MISERABLE. JOHN SAID HE WAS "EATING AND DRINKING LIKE A PIG. I WAS FAT AS A PIG".
HE REFERRED TO THE TIME AS HIS "FAT ELVIS PERIOD".
LIKE SO MANY ARTISTIC GENIUSES IN HISTORY, JOHN WENT THROUGH VERY INTENSE SPIRITUAL PAIN AND SUFFERING. WHILE PAUL AND RINGO WERE QUITE HAPPY AND FULFILLED BEING BEATLES, JOHN WAS, ALMOST FROM THE BEGINNING, LOOKING FOR SOMETHING MORE.
THE FILM WRAPPED IN APRIL OF '65 AND HAD IT'S ROYAL PREMIERE ON JULY 29TH. WHILE IT DID PROVE TO BE A HUGE BOX-OFFICE HIT, IT WAS GENERALLY AGREED THAT THE FILM WAS JUST MISSING SOMETHING AND UNANIMOUSLY AGREED THAT IT WAS NOT AS FRESH OR FUNNY AS "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT". THE BEATLES HAD ACTUALLY PLANNED A CAREER IN FILMS, ALONG WITH THEIR MUSIC, MUCH LIKE THEIR IDOL, ELVIS PRESLEY (BUT BETTER, OF COURSE).
THE CHILLY REVIEWS AND REACTION TO "HELP!" HELPED PUT AN END TO THOSE PLANS. IT IS TRUE THE BOYS CONSIDERED MANY SCRIPTS AS A FOLLOW-UP AFTER "HELP!", BUT NONE WERE QUITE RIGHT. THEY DID STAR IN ONE OTHER MOTION PICTURE, "LET IT BE" (1970), RIGHT BEFORE THEY SPLIT, BUT THIS WAS A PURE DOCUMENTARY.
("LET IT BE" ALSO HELPED THE BEATLES FULFILL THE THREE-FILM CONTRACT THEY HAD SIGNED RIGHT BEFORE "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT".)
"HELP!" WAS TO BE THE LAST TIME WE SEE THEM AS THE FOUR "LOVEABLE MOP TOPS". WHO KNOWS? MAYBE WITH THE RIGHT SCRIPTS, THEY COULD HAVE BEEN "THE NEW MARX BROTHERS", AS SO MANY HAD PREDICTED OF THEM IN 1964.
BUT IT WAS NOT TO BE. THEY WOULD HAVE TO SETTLE FOR THE LEGACY OF BEING THE MOST POPULAR, SUCCESSFUL, AND INFLUENTAL BAND IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD AND "HELP!"? WELL, TO USE ANOTHER LENNON METAPHOR: "IT WAS LIKE BEING A FROG IN A MOVIE ABOUT CLAMS".
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